Marbella feels the loss of Saudi king Fahd

Marbella Council announces three days of mourning for royal who spent millions in Marbella

On his last visit to the town, the king arrived with a fleet of jumbo jets, and about 3,000 family members, friends, camp followers and staff.

He booked 300 hotel rooms, hired 500 additional staff, and more than 100 new Mercedes cars arrived on transporters from Germany, where they had been leased.
By the time he left almost seven weeks later, he was said to have pumped more than ?90m (about £60m) into Marbella's economy.

For many years the Saudi ruler was a regular visitor to the southern coast of Spain during summer holidays.

King Fahd was probably the most illustrious person to take up residence on the Spanish coast during the summer. His death is a big blow to the local economy. The King built his own palace there - a marble and gold copy of the White House in Washington DC. And not just a palace: the Saudi ruler's Marbella property includes two mosques, a hospital, numerous swimming-pools and several massive villas.